2. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the reasons for hisarrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him.3. Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly before ajudge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitledto trial within a reasonable time or to release. It shall not be the general rule thatpersons awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject toguarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial proceedings, and,should occasion arise, for execution of the judgment.4. Anyone who is deprived of his liberty by arrest or detention shall be entitled to takeproceedings before a court, in order that court may decide without delay on thelawfulness of his detention and order his release if the detention is not lawful.5. Anyone who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have anenforceable right to compensation.Article 9 International Covenant on Civil and Political RightsThe 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of <strong>Nigeria</strong>, the African Charter on Human and PeoplesRights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights all recognize the importance andcentrality of access to justice in the protection and defense of human rights. They also recognize andstress the need to secure the independence of the courts to make access to justice and themachineries of justice a reality. Despite these provisions and the guarantee for fair hearing, the<strong>Nigeria</strong>n reality is far from achieving this.On September 7, <strong>2005</strong>, Mr. Obi Samuel, a 26 yearold student of the University of <strong>Nigeria</strong> (UNN),Nsukka, Department of Political Science was arrested by Police Officers from Nsukka PoliceArea Command at Nsukka Main Market. The police detained him and accused him of being amember of MASSOB (Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra). He denied thisallegation.On March 27, 2006, the father, Mr. Sunday Obi of 97 Onuiyi Road, Nsukka, and the Faculty officer forthe Department of Political Science UNN, Mr. Pat (surname unknown) were interviewed. Mr. Patconfirmed that Samuel is one of their students and that he was wellbehaved boy. He was shocked tohear that Samuel was detained in prison for being a member of MASSOB. His father stated thatSamuel is level headed and a hard working student. According to him the police had searched hishome, Samuel’s room and the entire compound, and did not discover any thing suggestive of MASSOBmembership or cultism. All his efforts to get his son released were in vain.The police stated that Samuel was arrested with others when the police disrupted an unauthorizedmeeting of MASSOB and the members went on rampage. The Nsukka Police Area Commander, Mr.Salami Ahmed, admitted that some persons arrested may not have been members of MASSOB andmay not have attended the said meeting or participated in the rampage, but that the police was underinstruction that all arrested persons were to be transferred to the State Criminal InvestigationDepartment (CID), Enugu. Mr. Promise Oke and Ernest Ani, the police officers that investigated thematter at the CID said that they conducted a thorough investigation and submitted their reports, buttheir instruction was that all arrested persons were to be arraigned in court, despite the fact thatevidence so far had not implicated Samuel.80
On September 9, <strong>2005</strong>, Samuel and others were arraigned before Enugu North Magistrate Court II on a“Holding Charge” for treason and treasonable felony, contrary to section 37(2) and 41(c) Criminal Code,Laws of the federation 1990. The offence attracts the death penalty on conviction. They were remandedin prison custody while awaiting trial. Subsequently, on March 3, 2006, charge No. FHC/EN/CS/243/05was filed at the Federal High Court II, Enugu against Samuel and five others. All suspects pleaded notguilty to the charge. The case was adjoined to April 5, 2006 to enable the Federal Prosecutor file trialinformation. On the adjourned date, the Prosecutor was not in court and the court further remandedthem in prison custody.On the August 13, 2003, Mr. Collins Ifelika, a 29 year old trader and member of Rosicrucian Orderof AMORC, who lives in Gwagwa a suburb in Abuja was arrested by the police and taken toGwagwa Police Station over an allegation of child kidnapping. After spending three months inpolice custody, Mr. Ifelika was later charged to court and remanded in Suleja Prison where he stillremains up till now.Collins Ifelika’s ordeals begun when a cotenant, Mr. Adeyemi raised an alarm that his son wasmissing. A spiritualist informed Mr. Adeyemi, a driver by profession that his cotenant was responsiblefor his missing son. Six days later on August 13, 2006, Mr. Adeyemi reported the matter to the policewho arrested Collins Ifejika over the missing child. The Investigation Police Officer, Stephen Usmanlater charged Collins with kidnapping before Magistrate Court’s, Jiwa, Abuja. Mr. Shuaibu theMagistrate remanded Collins at Suleja Prisons while awaiting the report of the DPP, in order to decidewhether to file charges against Collins at the High Court.In July 2006, the Chief Judge of the Federal Capital Territory, Hon. Justice Mohammed Lawal Gummivisited Suleja Prisons and examined the case file of Collins. Justice Gummi then ordered that the casefile be brought to his office by the DPP to ascertain why Collins should not be release d from detention.Up to the time of this report, the DPP had not complied with the directives of the Chief Judge andCollins is still in detention.Georgina Ahamefule, 47 years old of No. 19 Magbesa Street Kirikiri, Apapa, Lagos, worked asSenior Nursing Aide with Imperial Medical Centre, No. 65 Brickfield Street, Off Apapa Road,Lagos. In October 1995, she was sacked because of her HIV status.Sometime in 1995, Georgina fell sick and the hospital treated her since she was its employee. A HIVtest was carried out on her without her consent, and without the benefit of pretest and post testcounseling. On being confirmed HIV positive, the hospital sent her to Lagos Universal TeachingHospital (LUTH) for a confirmatory test, still unknown to her, on 19 th October 1995. The confirmatorytest was still carried out on her without necessary counseling. When the confirmatory test turned outpositive, she was asked to invite her husband to the hospital. At this point she still had no idea aboutwhat was going on. LUTH informed her husband of her HIV positive status without her consent, and thenecessary post counseling.In 2001, Social and Economic Rights Action Centre (SERAC) a Lagos – based NGO, filed a suit at IkejaHigh Court, Lagos for unlawful termination of appointment, against her employer. When the case cameup for hearing, the trail judge was reported to have denied her entry into the court room, except expertevidence was proffered to show that persons in court would not be infected with HIV by her presence.Based on the pronouncement by the trial Judge, SERAC filed an appeal to against the request forexpert evidence.81
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THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTSINNIGERIA2
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe National Human
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FOREWORDThe State of Human Rights i
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INTRODUCTIONThe history of human ri
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CHAPTER ONEEXTRAJUDICIAL, SUMMARY
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On the 11 th of August, 2006, bodie
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Corpse of Mr. Lugard Monday© Insti
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CHAPTER TWOTORTURE, CRUEL, INHUMAN
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Moments after Patrick died, a senio
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CHAPTER THREEPOLICE CELLS AND OTHER
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On February 18, 2006, Babagana Zann
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the visits. Without being informed
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last resort and for the minimum nec
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Binta Umar, a 33yearold woman w
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2006, only one government lawyer fr
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Women and ChildrenThe prison does n
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of rape and abduction against him.
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SOKOTO CENTRAL PRISONIntroductionTh
- Page 39 and 40: Ifeanyi Arasu, aged 28, was charged
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- Page 43 and 44: BeddingsAt the male cells, only the
- Page 45 and 46: KUJE PRISONINTRODUCTIONKuje prison
- Page 47 and 48: RECOMMENDATIONS ON KUJE PRISONi) At
- Page 49 and 50: VISITORS’ BOOKSeveral visitors’
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- Page 53 and 54: 5 Ahmed Suleiman, age 31 remanded i
- Page 55 and 56: RECOMMENDATIONS1) The States should
- Page 57 and 58: CHAPTER FIVEWOMEN AND OTHER GENDER
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- Page 61 and 62: CHAPTER SIXFREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AN
- Page 63 and 64: various persons and clients of the
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- Page 73 and 74: CHAPTER TENLABOUR“The state shall
- Page 75 and 76: CHAPTER ELEVENCOMMUNNAL CONFLICTS A
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- Page 79 and 80: claimed several lives, the Federal
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- Page 85 and 86: should do is to direct that every b
- Page 87 and 88: CHAPTER TWELVEFREEDOM OF MOVEMENT A
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- Page 93 and 94: CHAPTER FOURTEENPOLITICAL KILLINGS
- Page 95 and 96: CONCLUSIONGENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS1.
- Page 97: 30. The Ministry of Justice should
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